Lewis Hamilton's future might be in doubt but his performance was the pick of
the bunch in second practice, with team-mate Jenson Button staying in second
place.

With rumours rife of Hamilton potentially switching to Mercedes from next year, team principal Martin Whitmarsh today insisted the 27-year-old was fully focused on this weekend's race around Monza.

With a desire to get his title challenge back on track after becoming embroiled in a four-car pile-up at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix five days ago, Hamilton could not have wished for a better start to his weekend.

The 27-year-old spearheaded a McLaren one-two, with Jenson Button again second on the timesheet.

The 32-year-old finished just 0.038secs adrift, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in close attendance on his team's home turf as he was 0.058secs down on Hamilton.

Like the Briton, championship leader Alonso was also involved in the La Source smash sparked by Lotus' Romain Grosjean for which he is banned from this race, the first driver to receive such a punishment in F1 for 18 years